Finding a "slave mentality" in Weldon, North Carolina

Doris recalls encountering a "slave mentality" in Weldon, North Carolina. She had hoped that she would join a diverse, motivated community in Weldon like those she knew in California, Oregon, and Colorado. She remembers some community leaders who were not using their positions to advocate for racial justice. One such experience with a minister who offered his flock comfort rather than leadership drove her from the church.

Citing this Excerpt

Oral History Interview with Salter and Doris Cochran, April 12, 1997. Interview R-0014. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Full Text of the Excerpt

KAREN KRUISE THOMAS:

What were some of your memories when you came to Weldon?

DORIS COCHRAN:

My mother and father were both trained social workers, and their lives
were very broad. As a result, they shared with us the experiences. . .

SALTER COCHRAN:

Can I interrupt? Their lives weren't always like that.

DORIS COCHRAN:

I'm speaking of when I knew them.

SALTER COCHRAN:

Because they were victims of the same things I was, in Baltimore and
Washington. Her mother finished the same high school I did.

DORIS COCHRAN:

And Howard University. So, by being social workers and sharing with
usߞwe even socialized together, my parents and our generation.
I have three siblings. As a result, I think it gave us a step up in
understanding society in general, people in general. It was a very
interesting life, because we moved from community to community. By my
father being a minister, you were welcomed in the community, you
didn't have to forge your way through. At the same time, you
met so many diverse people. The church in Oakland and Berkeley that my
father had was integrated way back in the '30s and
'40s. It had a small minority of other races, but they were
there. There was an on-going exchange of rabbis and ministers within the
ministerial alliances in Oregon, California, and Colorado. So we were
really exposed to lots of different types of people. My older sister
graduated from U.C.-Berkeley also, and as you might
know, the international house there had a reputation of being quite an
active, interesting and diverse community. My mother and father used to
welcome young people to our home, because they wanted us to know people
from all over they world, and they wanted them to be exposed to families
in the area. We lived in Berkeley, right near the campus. So that armed
me, so to speak, with a feeling that there are other venues, other
aspects to life besides that that I had lived. When I came here [to
Weldon], at first I had the feeling that there would be a very strong,
almost militant group of people that were ready for anything that might
come on the horizon. The military had been integrated, and I said, well,
things might begin to fall after that. This was in my mind. So coming
here, I had that feeling, not realizing that there had been generations
of that slave mentality that was still here. I came to understand that
the security people needed to go from one day to the next was in that
slave mentality. That was a rude awakening for me. I didn't
think that that would be the situation when I first came here. I
remember that the older physician that was
hereߞwe'd met him before, his name was Dr.
Tinsleyߞ approached us one time, and said that he
didn't believe that there was much hope. I think that he had
just given up on the prospect of our races ever getting together, or
people having understanding. So he was sort of negative in his whole
aspect. I told him, I remember quite clearly, that if we could help just
one person, maybe that would be progress. And he looked at me like I was
sort of crazy. I guess he thought, here's this young kid that
doesn't know what she's talking about. But still,
I sort of hung on to that, because, I guess, my family had been so
positive, and had instilled in me a positivity that I felt quite
strongly about. But little by little, it was revealed to me that it
would take a lot to overcome what had preceded us generations back. In
the churches, which were the foundation of the black communities, there
was a resignation about ever bursting out, ever becoming a part of the
community in general. I remember quite a few experiences. One of them
had to do with the fact that the minister of the church that my
husband's family belonged to was in graduate school at
Harvard University with one of my father's brothers. I was
enthused about meeting him, and thought, "Oh, boy, this is
really going to be something, because I'm sure that this man
is going to be a very progressive man." And the very first time
I went to see him, and went up to meet him at church, I said,
"I have some exciting news. My father's brother and
you were at Harvard together in the master's program. He
said, "Oh, yes, what was his name?" I said,
"Richard Hill." And he said, "Oh, I knew him,
I knew him." I said, "Great. Since you've
been in this community, what have you been doing to help with the
leadership and so on?" And he told me, "I'm
giving the people what they want." I almost fainted right there
in the church! I couldn't believeߞbecause when I
heard him speak, it was so lacking in any perspective, any inspiration,
it was so lacking in giving people the wherewithal to fight the battle.
I just couldn't believe it, and that's why I was
pressed to go to him and ask him what this had done to equip him for
helping these people in his community that so
desperately needed it? When he said he was giving them what they wanted,
I felt like my heart just went absolutely to the floor!

KAREN KRUISE THOMAS:

And this was at a church here in Weldon?

DORIS COCHRAN:

Yes, yes.

SALTER COCHRAN:

First Baptist.

DORIS COCHRAN:

After that, I told my husband, "I've never been a
very religious person, maybe spiritual, but not religious. But this does
it for me. I just don't think I can become a part of that
type of mentality. I've got to stay on the outside and find
out what allows it persist, and see what I can do from the other end.
But it's not going to work for me to be a part of
it." I had grown up in a family that wasn't terribly
religious, because we weren't even told that we had to go to
church in my family, it was a matter of being exposed to all kinds of
religions, and accepting what was acceptable to you. After that
experience, the idea of becoming a part of the religious atmosphere in
Weldon [was impossible]. And that set us apart, because in the black
community, if you're not first, from that community, and you
don't have the accent, that's sort of a startling
aspect to you, and then if you're not a part of the church,
there is something definitely wrong there! So that set me apart.

SALTER COCHRAN:

It's the slave mentality again.

DORIS COCHRAN:

So it was harder for people to look at me and say,
"She'll be a part of us," than it was for
them to look at my husband, because his family had been very involved in
the religious community in Weldon, especially his grandmother. That was
a revelation, number one. After that, I think I made up my mind with
Salter that we'd do the best we could to bring to the people
the best medicine and the best image of self-realization of some sort
that we possibly could. It started off by our working very hard to
create a physical plant. No one would let us have any property that we
could house an office in, and we had to fend for ourselves.